The present invention relates to novel light duty liquid detergent compositions with high foaming properties, containing a nonionic surfactant, a sulfonate surfactant, an alcohol sulfate, and an ethoxylated alkyl ether sulfate surfactant, wherein the surfactants are dissolved in an aqueous medium.
Nonionic surfactants are in general chemically inert and stable toward pH change and are therefore well suited for mixing and formulation with other materials. The superior performance of nonionic surfactants on the removal of oily soil is well recognized. Nonionic surfactants are also known to be mild to human skin. However, as a class, nonionic surfactants are known to be low or moderate foamers. Consequently, for detergents which require copious and stable foam, the application of nonionic surfactants is limited. There have been substantial interest and efforts to develop a high foaming detergent with nonionic surfactants as the major active ingredient. Yet, little has been achieved.
The prior art is replete with light duty liquid detergent compositions containing nonionic surfactants in combination with anionic and/or betaine surfactants wherein the nonionic detergent is not the major active surfactant, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,658,985 wherein an anionic based shampoo contains a minor amount of a fatty acid alkanolamide. U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,398 discloses a betaine-based shampoo containing minor amounts of nonionic surfactants. This patent states that the low foaming properties of nonionic detergents renders its use in shampoo compositions non-preferred. U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,335 also discloses a shampoo containing a betaine surfactant as the major ingredient and minor amounts of a nonionic surfactant and of a fatty acid mono- or di-ethanolamide. U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,204 discloses a shampoo comprising 0.8-20% by weight of an anionic phosphoric acid ester and one additional surfactant which may be either anionic, amphoteric, or nonionic. U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,334 discloses an anionic-amphoteric based shampoo containing a major amount of anionic surfactant and lesser amounts of a betaine and nonionic surfactants.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,129 discloses a liquid cleaning composition based on the alkali metal silicate content and containing five basic ingredients, namely, urea, glycerin, triethanolamine, an anionic detergent and a nonionic detergent. The silicate content determines the amount of anionic and/or nonionic detergent in the liquid cleaning composition. However, the foaming property of these detergent compositions is not discussed therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,515 discloses a heavy duty liquid detergent for laundering fabrics comprising a mixture of substantially equal amounts of anionic and nonionic surfactants, alkanolamines and magnesium salts, and, optionally, zwitterionic surfactants as suds modifiers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,195 discloses an aqueous detergent composition for laundering socks or stockings comprising a specific group of nonionic detergents, namely, an ethylene oxide of a secondary alcohol, a specific group of anionic detergents, namely, a sulfuric ester salt of an ethylene oxide adduct of a secondary alcohol, and an amphoteric surfactant which may be a betaine, wherein either the anionic or nonionic surfactant may be the major ingredient.
The prior art also discloses detergent compositions containing all nonionic surfactants as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,154,706 and 4,329,336 wherein the shampoo compositions contain a plurality of particular nonionic surfactants in order to effect desirable foaming and detersive properties despite the fact that nonionic surfactants are usually deficient in such properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,787 discloses a piperazine based polymer in conditioning and shampoo compositions which may contain all nonionic surfactant or all anionic surfactant.
U.S. Pat. 4,671,895 teaches a liquid detergent composition containing an alcohol sulfate surfactant, a nonionic surfactant, a paraffin sulfonate surfactant, an alkyl ether sulfate surfactant and water but fails to disclose an alkyl polysaccharide surfactant.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,091 discloses high viscosity shampoo compositions containing a blend of an amphoteric betaine surfactant, a potyoxybutylene polyoxyethylene nonionic detergent, an anionic surfactant, a fatty acid alkanolamide and a polyoxyalkylene glycol fatty ester. But, none of the exemplified compositions contains an active ingredient mixture wherein the nonionic detergent is present in major proportion, probably due to the low foaming properties of the polyoxybutylene polyoxyethylene nonionic detergent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,526 describes a composition comprising a nonionic surfactant, a betaine surfactant, an anionic surfactant and a C.sub.12 -C.sub.14 fatty acid monethanolamide foam stabilizer.
However, none of the above-cited patents discloses a high foaming, liquid detergent composition containing a nonionic surfactant, a supplementary high foaming anionic sulfonate surfactant, an alcohol sulfate surfactant, and an ethoxylated alkylether sulfate surfactant as the four essential ingredients, and the composition does not contain any HEDTA, amine oxide, alkanolamides, clays, abrasives, silicas, clay or polymeric thickeners, alkaline earth metal carbonates, alkyl glycine surfactant, cyclic imidinium surfactant, alkali metal carbonates or more than 3 wt % of a fatty acid or its salt thereof.